Mexican farmers protest, warn of crisis as trade barriers lifted

Published 6:00 pm, Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Associated Press Writer

Activists lifted a blockade at the U.S.-Mexico border on Wednesday, ending a 36-hour protest against the removal of Mexico's last tariffs on U.S. and Canadian farm goods.

Mexico abolished its last protective tariffs on basic crops like corn, beans and sugar on Tuesday, under the terms of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. Mexican farmers have complained they won't be able to compete with U.S. farmers who can sell cheaper products because they receive government subsidies.

Mexico's Roman Catholic Church has warned that the changes could spark an exodus to the U.S.

"It is clear that many farmers will have a difficult time competing in the domestic market, and that could cause a large number of farmers to leave their farms," the archdiocese said in a statement issued on New Year's Day.

Dozens of farm activists in Ciudad Juarez blocked one lane of the border bridge leading into El Paso, Texas, to protest the unrestricted imports of U.S. corn, as part of a 36-hour demonstration that started in the first minutes of the New Year.

They had pledged not to allow any U.S. grain into the country, but none of the trucks they stopped and inspected at the bridge were carrying any grain. They lifted the blockade around midday on Wednesday.

Holiday motorists visiting family members south of the border were frustrated by the partial blockade.

"They should go somewhere else to stage their show. They're not going to solve anything here," said Luis Santillan, an El Paso resident trying to get across the bridge.

Front pages of Mexican newspapers, meanwhile, were filled with predictions that the trade opening would hurt Mexican food production and cause conflict.

"The open battle against NAFTA begins," read a banner headline in the daily La Jornada.

In Mexico City, activists announced plans to march through the capital and hold a nationwide conference on Jan. 14 to plan further protests.

"This is going to be a complicated year, and there will certainly be a lot of demonstrations," said Enrique Perez, a spokesman for the National Association of Farm Distributors, one of the groups organizing the marches.

Mexico, the birthplace of corn, obtained a 15-year protection for sensitive farm crops when NAFTA was negotiated in 1993. That protection period ran out on Jan. 1. Mexico still grows almost all of the corn consumed here by humans, but imports corn to feed animals.

NAFTA also opened U.S. markets to Mexican crops like winter vegetables and avocados.

Not everyone in Mexico is against the trade opening.

"There are many who don't like globalization, but it exists and we can't run away from it and hide," an editorial in Mexico City's El Universal newspaper read Wednesday.